When speaking about race in a country built from imperialism, it’s very hard to be able to move away from the concept of white normativity – that whiteness is the baseline, and everything else is “other” (Winings, 2017). This concept pervades every aspect of our culture here in the United Kingdom, and all of our cultural structures have been built on it. Using white culture as the standard of which we base “cultural practices, attitudes, assumptions, and ideologies” creates a world in which every institution is biased towards whiteness (Winings, 2017).
Asif Sadiq speaks about how white normativity effects inclusion policy is his TEDx Talk Titled “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right” (2023). He made a very important point regarding diversity trainings and campaigns, arguing that the training is inherently bias and perpetuates stereotypes. In my opinion, this is because training is unconsciously built for the white view, most likely by white people, and so lacks intersectionality and depth.
At UAL, there is a campaign/scheme to pivot away from white normativity and white centrism called Decolonising the Curriculum. The crux of the issue, as pointed to by Sadiq, is that education, especially in the United Kingdom, is built around a singular viewpoint – whiteness – that often perpetuates racism. The process of Decolonising the Curriculum at UAL is not only meant to involve staff but also students, as students can often bring the most diverse opinions and additionally should be the ones steering the ship that is their education.
When reading about diversity and inclusion policy and critical race theory, I found it very interesting how Alice Bradbury argues that “policy is not an outcome, but a process” (Bradbury, 2019). This speaks to me and my practice in the sense that, as stated above, I do personally believe that in higher education, students should have a hand in driving their educations. As an educator, specifically as a white, USAmerican person, there is only so much that I can personally bring to the table due to my privileged status and the culture that I was raised in. This means that it’s incredibly important that I diversify my teaching as much as possible. This is not always that easy, and often I do turn to students for their opinions or suggestions, specifically when it comes to the examples I use in my haircutting lessons. In my opinion, examples need to be as relevant to the students as possible to actually “sink in”, and even with my own research, students will still show me images or references from their own cultures or backgrounds that surpass what I am able to find. On the other hand though, I don’t think it’s fair to expect the marginalised group to bear the burden of educating the privileged group. Although, I do feel that making sure that marginalised voices and opinions are amplified is more important to me and my teaching practice.
Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp.241-260.
Nijhawan, A (n.d.). Debunking Decolonisation: a resource for students and staff. University of the Arts London.
TEDx Talks (2023). Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right | Asif Sadiq | TEDxCroydon. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw
The Telegraph (2022). Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU.
Winings, K., 2017. The challenges in addressing white normativity. Applied Unficationism.